Cheer up, lesula monkey, you're a species now

James Argent, contributor

(Image: Hart, J. A., Detwiler, K. M., Gilbert, C. C., Burrell, A. S., Fuller, J. L. et al. (2012)/PLoS One)

This is the face of a lesula, a new species of monkey discovered in a remote area of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

That's its local name anyway. Documenting the monkey for the first time, John Hart of the Lukuru Wildlife Research Foundation in Kinshasa, DRC, and colleagues have also given it the formal name Cercopithecus lomamiensis.

Lesula is only the second new species of African monkey discovered in the past 28 years. Facially it resembles the species C. hamlyni, also known as the owl-face monkey. Like this monkey, lesula also has a distinctive blue genital region and buttocks.

The newly reported monkey's habitat is confined to 17, 000 square kilometres of forest between the Lomami and Tshuapa rivers. The habitat is rich in primates but also vulnerable due to uncontrolled bushmeat hunting, report Hart's team.

Journal reference: PLoS One, doi.org/jcj

Source: http://feeds.newscientist.com/c/749/f/10897/s/23644cbb/l/0L0Snewscientist0N0Cblogs0Cshortsharpscience0C20A120C0A90Clesula0Emonkey0Enew0Especies0Bhtml0DDCMP0FOTC0Erss0Gnsref0Fonline0Enews/story01.htm

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